There are supercars and then there are super supercars. And this was my first time behind the wheel of the latter. Although technically it didn’t come equipped with mythological wings on its wheels and decklid, you would never know it based on the thrilling g-force and world-blurring acceleration you experience the first time you jet like an ICBM from 0-to-60 in — gulp! — 2.7 seconds. For those keeping score, this is pretty darn close to the Bugatti Veyron’s 2.45 seconds. Of course, the pleasure of driving a Veyron will set you back a cool $1.7 million.

Not so, the 911 Porsche Turbo. In fact, by comparison this vehicle seems like a bargain at $161,365 (starting MSRP $143,800). Plus, the Turbo’s street manners are such that it actually works as an everyday car. If you’re among the lucky few to drive this legendary uber-luxe performance car off the dealership lot, you’re going to wish there were eight days a week.

Especially the first time you try the electronically controlled Launch Control mode that comes standard when you buy your 911 Turbo with the optional seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission along with the Sport Chrono-equipped Turbo package. And here’s why you won’t bat an eye when forking out the $4,550 and $3,470, respectively, for this pair of must-have options: when the 911 Turbo’s Launch Control mode is activated, you merely step on the brakes until the revs reach 5,000 rpms. When you let off the brake the car grips the asphalt like eagle talons and propels you — without any wheelspin or screeching tires — like a rocket down the road with such ferocious torque and acceleration that you had better hope your veneers are affixed firmly to your teeth. It even put a broad smile on a passenger who traditionally is nonplussed about virtually everything save for the annual airing of “The Sound of Music” on television.

“With the Turbo, the Launch Control is even more effective because you’ve got four tires grabbing the ground instead of two,” Walter Barbier, sales consultant at Porsche of New Orleans, said referring to the fact the 911 Turbo is all-wheel-drive. “It puts maximum power to the ground and gets it there effectively.”

So much so that when you glance in the rearview mirror and see the split-wing spoiler deploy at 75 miles per hour, you actually begin to think you are the Roman god Mercury.
Spine-tingling ride
No small part of this spine-tingling ride can be traced to the fact this speed demon boasts the first all-new engine in the Turbo’s illustrious 35-year history. Porsche engineers fattened the seventh-generation 911 Turbo engine to 3.8 liters (up from 3.6), added direct fuel injection (for the first time ever) along with more efficient intercoolers, and tweaked the stability control and suspension management systems. Elsewhere the Torque Vectoring system helps keep the wheels on the ground and provides turning torque through curves.

Of course, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. And the 911 Turbo Cabriolet isn’t exactly shortsighted when it comes to power. That is, if 500 wild horses and 480 pound-feet of torque — under the guidance of a twin-turbocharged flat-six with dual-overhead cams — is sufficient to rock your world. Helping you stop nearly on a dime are 13.8-inch vented rotors with six-piston calipers in front and four calipers in rear.

Granted, the 17.7-gallon tank and EPA Fuel Economy Estimate of 17/25 city/highway miles per gallon, respectively, will make you a familiar face at your favorite gas station. But this won’t likely matter after the first time you drop the top and hit the road, fantasizing about what it must feel like to reach the 911 Turbo’s reported top speed of 194 miles an hour.

Last year when I reviewed the Porsche Boxster, I was relentless in my whining over the lack of cupholders save for the flimsy pair that swing out from inside a thin storage space just above the glove compartment. Not much is different with the 911 Turbo except now my attitude has changed thanks to the observation my frequent traveling companion and test-car guinea pig offered one day while we were driving through some deserted country roads — and, yes, with frequent Launch Control starts from a dead stop. (I couldn’t help myself.)

“Even the best cupholders in the world wouldn’t keep the coffee from flying out and scalding every passenger in the car when you take off like that,” she said.
Space: the final frontier
Needless to say, the 911 Turbo Cabriolet didn’t earn its super-luxury stripes for nothing. The all-black monochromatic color palette, including leather front and back seats, and hand-stitched dash prove a stunning complement to the Arctic Silver Metallic exterior (other colors are available).

As for cargo space? Trying to pack this iconoclastic sports car with luggage, gifts, food and the family dog for a holiday trip to visit family would tax the sanity of even the most savvy king of the road. Motivation for the successful outcome of this venture, however, came in a thinly veiled threat that we would instead take my SUV if everything didn’t fit.

“Squish, squeeze, cram — do whatever it takes,” I pleaded.

Fortunately (and surprisingly), the BINO (backseat in name only) was spacious enough to hold everything including a gaggle of gifts, a trio of soft, carry-on travel bags plus the pillows and espresso maker this pawpaw-in-training takes with him whenever he overnights out of town. Beneath the 911’s sloping front hood is Porsche’s equally characteristic puny trunk. Yet it proved sufficiently spacious to pack with the bounty of Cajun-flavored specialty meats we picked up along the way from our favorite grocer in Arnaudville.

More breathtaking than the near-freezing outside temperatures was the simple joy of approaching the car and appreciating from a distance — and from any angle — its dolphin-sleek bodylines, sculpted fenders and supercar-cool lateral air-intake vents.

Beauty thy name is 911.

Unfortunately, the Turbo really wakes up and smells the coffee just as you’re starting to tip the speed limit, as though saying, “Right — let’s play.”

“Just know that you’re going to get a speeding ticket,” my passenger said.